Peter Sarin
To efficiently produce their own proteins, cells have evolved a seamless interplay between the nucleic acid and protein components of the translation machinery. In translation, the demands posed by the messenger code need to be matched by the supply of adapter molecules (tRNAs), which carry the amino acid building blocks required for the nascent protein chain to be formed by the ribosome. This careful balance is often perturbed in bioproduction systems, as the proteins-of-interest commonly originate from other organisms with inherently different synthesis requirements. To overcome this challenge, ProteRNA will optimize the small chemical groups that are naturally present on tRNAs, changing their abundance and identity to improve the efficiency of synthesis and to increase the yield of functional proteins. ProteRNA will establish this proof-of-concept and generate a detailed and applied understanding of protein synthesis modulation by adjusting tRNA modification.